The Bridge by Solomon Jones Page B

that quickly. But she opened the door, eagerly inviting the officer inside.
    â€œYou here about Sonny, right?”
    â€œYeah,” the officer said, walking in while flipping through the notepad. “Where is he?”
    Dot started to answer. Then the officer took off her hat and sat down on the couch. Dot’s mouth dropped open.
    â€œWhy you so surprised?” Judy asked, smiling in spite of herself. “You thought I ain’t know about you and Sonny?”
    Dot stumbled to find the right words. “Know … what?”
    â€œLook,” Judy said, her hard voice tinged with a quiet anger. “We ain’t got time to play games, sweetie. I always knew. I saw the way
he looked at you when you was livin’ with your mama. Smelled you on his skin when he came back from seein’ you. But I ain’t care. Long as he brought home what was mine.”
    â€œSo what you here for?” Dot asked.
    â€œâ€™Cause Sonny got somethin’ belong to me. And I got a feelin’ you know where he went with it.”
    â€œWell, you wrong,” Dot said with an attitude. “I don’t know.”
    Judy got up from the couch, walked over to her and stood just a few inches away, staring at the cuts on her lips.
    â€œYou know somethin’,” Judy said. “From the looks o’ things, Sonny been here.”
    Dot self-consciously raised her hand to cover her mouth.
    â€œAin’t no need to cover it up, honey,” Judy said, her eyes boring into Dot’s. “’Cause if you don’t tell me what I wanna know in the next five seconds, I’m gon’ make sure everybody see it.”
    Dot knew she should be afraid, but she stood her ground with flat-footed defiance.
    Judy took it in, and her eyes clouded over with a quiet rage. Her hand balled into a fist, her mouth turned down in a grimace, and as the seconds ticked by, Dot’s resolve began to waver.
    Judy made a sudden move. Dot fell to the ground in a shivering mess. Judy dropped to one knee and grabbed her by the neck. Dot reached up and tried to pry Judy’s hands away. But as Judy’s grip tightened around her throat, it was clear that Dot was too weak to fight her off.
    â€œNiggas don’t tell you ‘bout this when they tryin’ to get between your legs, do they?” Judy said through a maniacal grin. “They don’t tell you they woman might walk up on you and choke the shit outta you.”
    The veins on Judy’s forehead stood out as she squeezed harder, cutting off Dot’s air. Dot’s face turned red, then purple as she struggled to break free.
    For a split second, Judy considered squeezing the life from the girl who had taken a piece of Sonny away from her.

    But then good sense prevailed over anger. She let go, sitting back on her haunches as Dot coughed and tried to catch her breath.
    â€œWhere he at?” Judy asked.
    Dot looked up at her, at once fearful and relieved.
    â€œGone,” was all she could manage to say.
    Judy got up from the floor and looked down at her menacingly. “Gone where?”
    â€œTo hell, I hope,” Dot said with a gasp.
    Judy continued to look down at her and wait. When Dot caught her breath, she repeated the description she’d given to 9-1-1.
    Judy memorized it. Then she rushed from Dot’s building and walked one block to the Salvation Army Corps on Huntingdon Street.
    She told them that she needed clothing for a rape victim she was taking to police headquarters. When they gave her the clothes, Judy went outside, slipped into an alley, took off the police uniform she was wearing, and changed into the clothing herself. From there, she walked to Germantown and Rising Sun, where she took a room in a two-story hotel whose most loyal customers were crack prostitutes.
    After checking into the room, she took to the street to find Sonny.

Chapter Seven
    Lily looked from the cracked brown floor tiles in her hallway to the